News for the Week of June 2 – June 8, 2014

Carpenter Holds off Power to Win in Texas – After a late race error by Will Power (speeding violation), Ed Carpenter won the Firestone 600 at Texas Motor Speedway. Carpenter led 90 laps on his way to giving ECR its second win this season and Ed’s third career victory in the Verizon IndyCar Series. Carpenter had this to say: “I knew we had a good Car, though we left some on the table in qualifying. I love this racetrack and I’ve always wanted to win here so it’s nice to come here and get a win.” Click HERE for unofficial results- INDYCAR – (6/7/14)

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INDYCAR Modifies Restart Procedures – INDYCAR has announced that all Verizon IndyCar Series restarts will be single-file for the remaining year. This is a change from the previous employed double-file restarts on all all oval tracks (aside from Indianapolis). Derrick Walker had this to say: “This year we’ve made improvements in our ability to monitor and police restarts that has resulted in great single-file restarts at all our events, including the Indianapolis 500. We also felt it was important to place our competitors in the exact running order as they were prior to the caution and not provide an advantage to some drivers because of the lane they were in during a double-file restart.” – INDYCAR Release – (6/7/14)

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Another Ganassi 1-2-3 in 2nd Texas practice – Team Penske may have grabbed the pole but Chip Ganassi Racing has been fastest in each practice session at Texas this weekend. Once again Tony Kanaan led teammates Scott Dixon and Ryan Briscoe. This time they were followed by pole sitter Will Power and Ed Carpenter. Full results here. – INDYCAR – (6/6/14)

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Kanaan leads Ganassi 1-2-3 in practice at TMS – Tony Kanaan led teammates Scott Dixon and Ryan Briscoe in the first practice session at TMS on Friday. Marco Andretti and Helio Castroneves were 4th and 5th. Full results here. – INDYCAR – (6/6/14)

“Big 3” IndyCar teams feeling the pressure from challengers – We continue to link the local IndyCar stories in Dallas this week as they prep for the Firestone 600 on Saturday night. Today’s story focuses on the smaller teams of the series closing the gap. “Before, it was more obvious who was going to win a race,” said Tony Kanaan. “Now, I don’t think you can predict. It’s extremely tough.” Ed Carpenter offered this: “What sets apart the [bigger] teams and makes them great teams is their consistency. They’ve been consistent for so many years. I feel we have the tools to be fast and win races, and we’re trying to be consistent.” – Dallas Morning News – (6/6/14)

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RACER’s Texas preview – RACER previews this weekend in Texas here. Marco Andretti is the first name mentioned in their “Victory Contenders”. – RACER – (6/5/14)

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RHR talks TMS – Ryan Hunter-Reay talks to RACER Magazine about what to expect this weekend at Texas Motor Speedway. A great read. Hunter-Reay on tire degradation there: “So it’s always a fine line: Am I pushing too hard compared with everyone else, or not pushing enough? You never know if someone else has got all the same issues as you until they’re in your face or in your mirror.” – RACER – (6/5/14)

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IndyCar drivers aim to keep cool with tempers flaring heading to TMS – The Dallas Morning News continues to preview Saturday’s Firestone 600 by catching up their readers on all the drama from this past weekend in Belle Isle. Includes good driver quotes on the need to stay calm and not retaliate in IndyCar. You don’t know if you go for the guy if you’re going to end up with the worse end of the stick,” said Marco Andretti. “You don’t know how you’re going to come out of the other side. You may get the worse of it. You never want to have that mentality in an open-wheel car.” Tony Kanaan offered this: ““If you have an incident with somebody, when you see him at the track, you’re definitely thinking, ‘What’s going to happen now?’ But with our cars, it’s too dangerous. You can’t run into somebody and pretend nothing is going to happen.” – Dallas Morning News – (6/5/14)

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On This Day in Racing History June 4th – On this day in 2006 Scott Dixon celebrated his victory at the Watkins Glen Indy GP. – OW Schedules – (6/4/14)

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Chevy Dual in Detroit posts record attendance – Today race organizers announced that the 2014 event had over 110,000 attendees over the weekend, the highest since the event’s return in 2007. Daily attendance was as follows: 25,000 Friday, 40,000 Saturday, 45,000 Sunday. – detroitgp.com – (6/4/14)

Team Penske flexing their muscle to start the year – ESPN’s John Oreovicz writes about Team Penske drivers Will Power and Helio Castroneves moving to 1 and 2 in the championship standings after a strong weekend in Belle Isle. “From a racing standpoint, you dream of weekends where you’re as strong as this,” said Roger Penske. “Any time you put two drivers in the winner’s circle in the same weekend, it’s tremendous.” – ESPN – (6/3/14)

Angie’s List announced as the title sponsor of the GP of Indianapolis – Angie’s List will be the title sponsor of the 2015 and 2016 Verizon IndyCar Series races on the road course at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The 2015 race will be called the Angie’s List Grand Prix of Indianapolis. It will once again be televised on ABC. “There’s no better place in the world to be than Indianapolis in the Month of May,” said Angie’s List Founder Angie Hicks. “Angie’s List has long sponsored race cars in the Indianapolis 500, but getting involved with the Grand Prix brings a new kind of excitement. This is a world-class race, and we’ll bring in world-class service companies, not just to reward them, but to work hand-in-hand to change the way local service is delivered. Our ‘Festival of Service’ will celebrate companies that are working alongside us on this mission.” – IMS PR – (6/3/14)

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Aero package key to excitement of TMS race – Great driver quotes from the Dallas Morning News on what Verizon IndyCar Series drivers expect to see this Saturday at Texas Motor Speedway after last year’s rather boring race. They expect it to be a better blend of racing with close action but not quite pack racing. “If they put it back in the drivers’ hands and the good drivers are up at the front where they should be and the poseurs are at the back, it’s fine,’’ said Will Power. “I think it’s going to be some of the most intense racing we’ve ever seen here,’’ said Ryan Hunter-Reay. “I’m not going to say a total pack race, but it’ll be much closer racing.’’ – Dallas Morning News – (6/3/14)

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Chevy explains why they race – Excellent piece by GM’s U.S. Vice President, Performance Vehicles and Motorsport Jim Campbell on how Chevrolet translates their performance on the racetrack to their passenger cars. His four main points are technology transfer, developing engineers, connecting with customers, and bolstering Chevy’s image. A very good read. – GM – (6/3/14)

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Belle Isle TV ratings similar to last year – Saturday’s ratings were an 0.8 compared to 0.7 last year. Sunday was 0.7 compared to 0.8 last year. This is fairly consistent to previous races with similar to slight increases compared to the year before. Compared to NASCAR’s ratings decrease that’s a good thing but INDYCAR management has acknowledged ratings need to increase to attract more sponsors and grow the sport. – Jenna Fryer/AP – (6/2/14)

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Helio grabs a dominant win in Belle Isle – Helio Castroneves won Race #2 of the Chevrolet Dual in Detroit on Sunday in Belle Isle. Our photo gallery is now in the bottom of the story. Full results here. – OW33 – (6/1/14)

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Sato claims shock pole for race #2 in Belle Isle – Takuma Sato finished with a brilliant lap in Group 2 of qualifying to set a new track record and take the pole for Race #2 in Belle Isle this weekend. It looked like Helio Castroneves had the pole wrapped up until Sato surprised everyone with his late run. James Hinchcliffe set a temporary new track record in Group 1 and will start on the outside of row 1 later today. Full results here. – OW33 – (6/1/14)

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Power wins wild race #1 at Belle Isle – Will Power wins the 1st of two races in Detroit. Graham Rahal finishes 2nd and Tony Kanaan finishes 3rd. Official results, race recap, and gallery to follow. – OW33 – (5/31/14)

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Castroneves wins the pole for Race 1 at Belle Isle – James Hinchcliffe and Jack Hawksworth will start 2nd and 3rd. Simon Pagenaud will start 17th after suffering a penalty in phase 1 of qualifying. Indy 500 champ Ryan Hunter-Reay made contact in Turn 11 and will start 21st. Full results here. – OW33 – (5/31/14)